Driving You Crazy: Why didn't Denver pave the east approach of 8th Ave. when paving the viaduct?

DENVER — Ken from Denver writes, “What's driving you crazy? The paving job on 8th Ave viaduct is perfect and smooth. So why did they not pave the approach ramp on the east side? Last fall they paved 8th up to this ramp and stopped so I thought for sure this would get done when they repaved the viaduct. This section is the worst of all and it did not get repaved. This is just frustrating to see this happen. Why?”

It apparently came down to money. When I talked to the city, a spokesperson said simply, “We didn’t have funding to pave that portion of 8^th Ave.”

As you said Ken, the new 2 inches of overlay asphalt that is now covering the 8^th Ave. viaduct between Mariposa and Umatilla Streets looks fantastic. It is silky smooth and rides great. But if you are heading east, once you get off the viaduct, the asphalt condition is not very good. When I took a look for myself, I could clearly see the delineation between the new asphalt and the old pavement separated by the expansion joint.

The city told me the primary reason for the recent maintenance on the 8th Ave. viaduct wasn’t to make the surface smoother. It was to replace those aging expansion joints. The city hopes the recent maintenance will extend the life of the bridge for a little while until additional investments in the viaduct can be made.

“The plan was originally to do some spot repairs to the pavement, but within the maintenance budget, we were able to do a little more,” Nancy Kuhn with Denver’s Department of Transportation and Infrastructure (DOTI) told me. “We did as much as we could do within the maintenance budget we had to the viaduct itself, but our funding did not stretch beyond that to the approach.”

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That means that nearly 300-foot section of 8^th Ave. between the eastern expansion joint and Mariposa Street would stay rough, but that has since changed. A bit east of here, the section of 8^th Ave. between Mariposa and Galapago Streets went through a contract mill and overlay project in 2021. You can clearly see that line where the project stopped before crossing Mariposa to the eastern viaduct expansion joint.

I asked when the city might come back out and either fully overlay that small part of 8^th Ave. or at least fill in the potholes and cracks in the pavement. I was told when the Denver street paving team is on a nearby part of 8^th Ave they will pick up this section. That work has already happened in the couple of weeks between my conversations with the city and the publication of this story. On the Denver 2025 Paving Plan map a few blocks of 8^th Ave. between Kalamath and Fox Streets was scheduled to be paved sometime this year. Sometime has already happened and that section of 8th Ave has been repaved.

As for future repairs to the bridge, Kuhn told me they hope the new pavement on the viaduct will keep the bridge more viable for travel in the near term. “We are hopeful that future Vibrant Denver Bond funding will allow the city to complete more work needed on the 8th Ave. viaduct,” Kuhn said.

Denverite reported the repairs to the viaduct would get the largest share of that proposed $935 million debt-funded bond budgeted for $89.2 million.

Denver7 Traffic Expert Jayson Luber says he has been covering Denver-metro traffic since Ben-Hur was driving a chariot. (We believe the actual number is over 25 years.) He's obsessed with letting viewers know what's happening on their drive and the best way to avoid the problems that spring up. Follow him on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram or listen to his award winning Driving You Crazy podcast on any podcast app including iTunes, iHeartRadio, Spotify, Podbean, or YouTube.